CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT'S NEWS & VIEWS

Making tax simpler
In April, the Government announced proposals to simplify business tax, with legislation to be passed in August this year. They asked for feedback by end May on the best way to implement these proposals. The earliest of the changes would take effect from April 2017, with more coming online in 2018. At the moment, this would change the tax landscape to look something like this:

From 1 April 2017
Use of money interest
Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers will be better off following the government’s proposed revamp of business tax, as they will be removed from Inland Revenue’s use of money interest regime, says Tax Management NZ chief executive Chris Cunniffe.
Taxpayers using the standard uplift method (paying 105% of last year’s tax bill) will no longer be charged interest if they underpay at their first and second provisional tax dates, provided they pay the income tax they owe at their last provisional tax date.
Businesses and individuals who have residual income tax below $60,000 will also not be subjected to interest. It is expected that 67,000 taxpayers will benefit from this.

Penalties
Incremental late payment penalties will be removed from new debt for goods and services tax, income tax and working for families tax credits.

Credit reporting of tax debt
Inland Revenue can disclose significant tax debts to credit reporting agencies, so that other businesses considering extending credit can make more informed commercial decisions.

Information sharing
Inland Revenue can share information with the Registrar of Companies to help enforce company law requirements. This will help weed out non-compliant companies continuing to trade with an unfair commercial advantage over compliant businesses.

Withholding tax and schedular payments
Contractors will be able to elect their own withholding tax rate.
Contractors working for labour-hire firms can be covered by withholding tax.

Contractors and their payers can forge voluntary withholding agreements so that contractors can have tax withheld on a payday basis, reducing the impact of provisional tax.

From 1 April 2018
A new way to calculate and pay provisional tax
The accounting income method (AIM), which will be available to taxpayers with turnover of $5 million or less, will allow those who have IRD-approved accounting software to pay income tax on a two-monthly basis. Up to 110,000 taxpayers will be eligible.

Companies can pay tax as agents for shareholder-employees in respect of their shareholder-employee salary. This will reduce the impact of provisional tax for shareholder-employees.

Taxpayers who are forced to use the estimate method due to volatility or seasonality may find tax pooling a useful option to manage income tax payments, as they will be subjected to IRD interest.

Tax pooling would also provide businesses with cashflow constraints greater flexibility around when and how they pay their provisional tax payments.
 
But what will it mean for me?
The outcome of the consultation phase on tax simplification may still change how or whether some aspects are implemented but it seems certain that the broad outline of the changes will go through.

Best case scenario for small businesses: this should reduce complexity and make it easier to pay tax. You’ll pay tax more frequently based on your business’ actual income. You may end up paying less in tax, penalties, and interest. However paying tax more frequently may require you to keep a closer eye on cashflow to keep money coming in to pay the bills.
​
Worst case scenario for small businesses: you may end up paying more tax if you don’t stay aware of your tax obligations and ensure the accuracy of the data input into your business software. We can assist you with regular monitoring and checking your systems are accurate and fit for purpose.

Underpaid provisional tax can cause a few headaches.

Maybe you did not keep up with your provisional tax payments throughout the year? (oops) Perhaps you did not end up paying enough because you had a better-than-expected financial year (yay! but damn, an increased tax liability). It could be that seasonality or volatility make it difficult to forecast your provisional tax payments.

Whatever the case, owing the taxman additional income tax can put pressure on your business’ cashflow. With Inland Revenue’s interest clock continuously ticking at 8.27 per cent (and at 9.21% for tax debt incurred up until 8 May 2016) while that tax remains unpaid, the cost can quickly add up.
​
Tax pooling
An option we have discussed before is tax pooling. It is a service designed to reduce interest costs and provide payment options for provisional taxpayers.

How does it work?
For underpaid income tax, you can settle what you owe IRD by paying through a tax pooling intermediary such as Tax Management NZ (TMNZ) at an interest cost lower than the interest IRD charges on underpaid tax.

The payment you make is essentially a purchase of tax that TMNZ paid to IRD on the original date the provisional tax was due.

As this payment is date-stamped, IRD treats the tax as paid on time once it has processed the transfer from the tax pool to your IRD account. Any late payment penalties and interest showing on your account will be reversed once this happens.

When might this be useful?
Tax pooling can be used if you have underpaid income tax for the current tax year (2016) or the one just completed (2015).

Is tax pooling secure?
Tax pooling intermediaries are registered with IRD and operate under legislation set out in Income Tax Act 2007 and Tax Administration Act 1994.

The system was proposed by IRD so private markets could provide ways for provisional taxpayers to manage their income tax obligations and reduce their compliance costs.

The tax pool accounts operated by tax pooling intermediaries are held at IRD and managed by an independent trustee. The independent trustee also oversees the bank accounts in which your payments are made.

Timeframes for using tax pooling
Tax pooling gives you an extra 75 days past your terminal tax date to pay what you owe IRD. So, if you have a 7 April terminal tax date, you have until 15 June to settle underpaid provisional or terminal tax liabilities for the 2015 tax year. For underpaid income tax relating to the 2016 tax year, you have until mid-June 2017.

What to do next
Contact us if you would like to discuss tax pooling as an option to clear up your underpaid provisional tax debt.